[Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT)
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Hi all. Sorry if I haven’t responded. I haven’t flown in like three years now, and I guess when the forum upgraded I stopped getting notifications. Hopefully that’s sorted now.
Despite my time away from the sim, I do intend to update VMT to work with 4.36. Just getting started - will take me a few weeks depending on how easy it is to figure out the database changes. I also need to excavate my gaming machine, which is currently under a pile of boxes from a recent move.
Anyway, hopefully have something for initial testing in a week or three.
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@Tyrant Glad to see youre still around Tyrant. ;}
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@Tyrant that is excellent news, thank you!
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Update: I got my gaming machine dug out and running, and I’ve installed 4.36. Unfortunately, as happens basically every time, the build doesn’t work because the web tech stack I’m using has moved on. Not sure how people that live in the JavaScript ecosystem ever get anything done…
I’ll have to see if I can do something reasonable to get the build working again.
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Further update:
Finally worked through enough things that have broken in the ever-changing web tech landscape since the last time I touched this that I got the app up and running again. It doesn’t work, of course, but I think at this point I’m in “figure out what has changed in the BMS database” hell rather than “everything in web tech changes every six months” hell.
Anyway, still picking away at it.
If anyone has any way to get a BMS dev to just tell me what the changes are instead of me having to figure it out, that’s going to save me hours and hours, which could easily translate to weeks shaved off or when I can get a release out. The way this usually goes, I literally have a hex editor open, looking at byte-by-byte differences in file formats, to try to figure out what has changed. It is extraordinarily tedious. I don’t think the BMS devs owe me anything, it’s just that if one of them is able to give me targeted guidance, it would really help me out, and by extension, anyone that uses VMT. I’ll do it the hard way if I can, though.
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Current status: The next issue is somewhere in here:
That’s the section of the units file for a flight. It has changed since 4.35 somehow. The numbers in that picture are pretty much all I have to go on. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure I have the will to chase this down. Without any information about what has changed, it’s extremely difficult to derive what this means. I can look at Mission Commander and try to infer it from there, but after several hours of doing that, I’m none the wiser.
If anyone has an in with the BMS devs, five minutes from them will save me literally hours. All I need is to know what has changed in the layout of various files. It would take seconds of looking at the source code to determine that. Without that help, I think I may finally have run out of energy for maintaining VMT.
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Check you PM’s.
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@Tyrant Hi dear Tyrant, how the fix is going? I like very much your VMT Tool!
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@Ironman53rd So sorry: for whatever reason I don’t seem to get notifications and I’ve been super busy so didn’t get back here to see this.
Second problem: I can’t actually figure out how to check PMs. I can see “chats”, but nothing that looks like the usual webmail thing I expect from Forum software. Is chats the new PM thing?
(You’d think I’d know how to use computers. :p)
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@gundam Thanks. A bit on hold these last few weeks due to life getting very busy. Will provide an update before too long.
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@Tyrant said in [Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT):
Second problem: I can’t actually figure out how to check PMs. I can see “chats”, but nothing that looks like the usual webmail thing I expect from Forum software. Is chats the new PM thing?
Yes.
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@LorikEolmin Thanks. I write software for a living - you think I’d be able to figure out how to use it.
@gundam Short update on VMT: still haven’t figured out the file format info I need but am making progress. Will update when I have more info.
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@Tyrant said in [Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT):
@LorikEolmin Thanks. I write software for a living - you think I’d be able to figure out how to use it.
I’ll confess I have no clue either it’s irony or not, I’ve not read enough of you in a long time. Unfortunately. No irony.
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@Tyrant Chat = PM
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@LorikEolmin Haha, yeah, text is a terrible medium for conveying tone. It was indeed intended as self-deprecating humor.
I have to admit as an occasional user of the form I did not find it at all obvious that “chat” = “PM”, so I appreciate the confirmation. I do write software for a living, and I am constantly amazed at the number of ways we as an industry can find to make things confusing. I’m sure VMT has more than its fair share of these issues, despite me thinking really hard about how the interface should work.
Of course it’s not limited to the virtual world - anyone that has ever pulled on a door that can only be opened by pushing has been fooled by the handle. There’s a great book called “The Design of Everyday Things” that goes into this kind of thing in the physical world.
And of course the Viper cockpit is actually a masterwork of interaction design - not perfect perhaps but man, if most software was laid out with that much attention to functionality I would use a lot less profanity.
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@Tyrant said in [Release] Tyrant's Virtual Mission Tools (VMT):
@LorikEolmin Haha, yeah, text is a terrible medium for conveying tone. It was indeed intended as self-deprecating humor.
I have to admit as an occasional user of the form I did not find it at all obvious that “chat” = “PM”, so I appreciate the confirmation. I do write software for a living, and I am constantly amazed at the number of ways we as an industry can find to make things confusing. I’m sure VMT has more than its fair share of these issues, despite me thinking really hard about how the interface should work.
Of course it’s not limited to the virtual world - anyone that has ever pulled on a door that can only be opened by pushing has been fooled by the handle. There’s a great book called “The Design of Everyday Things” that goes into this kind of thing in the physical world.
And of course the Viper cockpit is actually a masterwork of interaction design - not perfect perhaps but man, if most software was laid out with that much attention to functionality I would use a lot less profanity.
Especially the external lights panel.
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Hi Tyrant,
Just to ask if VMT is Ok now for 4.36.3
I miss it a lot!!
A big Hug,
Gundam
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@gundam Hi Tyrant, Just to let you know that together with 4.37 in my heart there is even VMT tool.
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Hi @Tyrant, any update on the status of VMT?
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Hi guys. Sorry for the lack of update. Started coaching my daughter’s robotics team, and that has taken up a huge amount of my time (but is also very fun).
That said, I think the real reason that I haven’t worked on it is that I am totally burned out on it. I did get some help from someone with the file formats - which was super awesome - but it’s still incredibly tedious and every time I went to go work on it I just felt like I wanted to be doing anything else.
I feel terrible about this, but I think the reality is that I’m going to stop supporting VMT. It has just become actively unpleasant for me to work on, and much as I want to provide it for y’all, it has gotten to the point where it just doesn’t make sense for me to spend my spare time this way.
Apologies again, and also for not coming to this realization sooner and letting you know.